[Editorial] Qualifications For a New Leader of the Grand National Party

The Grand National Party (GNP) has fallen into disorder with the internal feud between those who demand the resignation of the leader Choe Byung-yul and those who oppose it. At the worst, it might turn into a struggle for leadership, which is a disappointment to a nation that is expecting the reform of the GNP. Yet it is an unavoidable process for the GNP if it is a pain to born again. Lee Mun-yeol, a writer and judging committee member for nomination in the GNP said yesterday in a press interview that it is time to make a turning point toward resuscitation for GNP, which has hit rock bottom.

Such an expectation for the GNP is different from support or likes and dislikes. If the GNP sinks by “insensitivity for change” as the party in power, which speaks for conservatism, political choices available to the nation will be reduced. It is not helpful for the development of the country at all.

The nation needs an authorized party that they can trust and depend upon when they disagree with the direction of administration decided by the party in power, or when they are disappointed with its self-complacency and misrule. That is the root of democratic government.

It is fifty days or more before a general election, but the approval rating of the GNP, which has the largest half of seats in the National Assembly, does not reach even twenty percent. There is no other explanation but that the conservatives, who have traditionally been backers, have broken away from the party with intense hatred for politics. Fifty percent of the electorate still says that they do not support any party, yet the GNP cannot attract them without changing itself.

There is no expecting how Choe will resolve the call for his resignation. What is obvious is that the leader of a party should be a person who can practice conservatism, which is moral, reasonable, and reformative in any situation. There is no future with a leader who is corrupt, dependent on regionalism, or adhering to conservative forces to keep vested rights.